As a shareholder of the company, you the owners of Coca-Cola. You believe that Coke should adopt the Sullivan Principles, which were developed by Leon Sullivan, the African-American board member of General Motors (GM). Read the history of Leon Sullivan’s creation of the Principles and learn more about who he was in the article provided, “The Sullivan Principles.”
Read a bit more about the history of the Sullivan Principles and who Leon Sullivan was from the following article:
Companies adopting the Sullivan Principles agree to do the following:
Express their support for universal human rights, especially for their employees, the communities in which they operate and for the parties with whom they do business.
Promote equal opportunity for their employees at all levels of their company with respect to issues such as color, race, gender, age, ethnicity or religious beliefs. Also they would not operate with worker treatment that exploits children, includes physical punishment, abuses females, imposes involuntary servitude or incorporates other forms of abuse.
Respect their employees’ voluntary freedom of association.
Compensate their employees enough to enable them to meet their basic needs and provide the opportunity to improve their skill and capability in order to raise their social and economic opportunities.
Provide a safe and healthy workplace, protect human health and the environment and promote sustainable development.
Promote fair competition including respect for intellectual and other property rights and not offer, pay or accept bribes.
Work with governments and communities in which they do business to improve the quality of life in those communities, including their educational, cultural, economic and social well-being. They would also seek to provide training and opportunities for workers from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Promote the application of the Principles by those with whom the company does business.
Beliefs and Assumptions Underlying Your Position
Arguments in Favor of Your Position
Your company has some moral responsibility to do something to push the apartheid regime towards equal rights for everyone.
The Sullivan Principles represent a “middle ground” approach between doing nothing and the activist shareholders who want to completely leave South Africa.
Adoption of the Principles would benefit your company and blacks in South Africa.
Doing nothing is not an option. Your company makes money by doing business with a racist regime that makes money by exploiting black workers. It is wrong to profit on the mistreatment of blacks living in South Africa.
By adopting the Sullivan Principles, you can shield your company from criticism that Coke is doing nothing. The activist shareholders want to go too far by completely disinvesting from South Africa, which would mean blacks in S.A. would lose jobs.
By adopting the Sullivan Principles, you can silence your critics here in the US while still actively pushing the apartheid government to act responsibly.
Key Quotes in favor of your argument - John Vorster, former (white) South African President, has stated that "Every time a South African product is bought, it is another brick in the wall of our continued existence." This signifies the importance of trade with the US and the fact that corporations have an obligation to take a moral stand given the importance South Africa places on that trade.
In 1972, Roy Wilkins of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples) asked, "How many black jobs would be lost if General Motors went back to Detroit, if John Deere and Chase Manhattan pulled out [of South Africa]? Instead of withdrawing, American companies should make dramatic improvements in the wage structures and training of African workers."
How you "win" the simulation:
Your group must get the board to adopt a resolution which does all of the following:
Condemns the apartheid regime in South Africa and calls for an end to it
Adopts the Sullivan Principles in their entirety and implements them in all Coca-Cola owned plants (or their subsidiaries) within four months, before the second celebration of the brand-new federal holiday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which will be celebrated on January 19th, 1987
You should prepare a written resolution for the board to adopt and a written justification for why they should adopt it, which your group members will take turn reading at the meeting.
Here's an example for how to word a resolution... keep the parts in bold and change the rest of the wording:
Whereas, We consider that recreation is a necessary part of a child's education; and
Whereas, There is no public ground in this village where our school children can play; therefore be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting that ample play grounds should be immediately provided for our school children.
Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the chair to present these resolutions to the village authorities and to urge upon them prompt action in the matter.
Read a bit more about the history of the Sullivan Principles and who Leon Sullivan was from the following article:
Companies adopting the Sullivan Principles agree to do the following:
Key Quotes in favor of your argument - John Vorster, former (white) South African President, has stated that "Every time a South African product is bought, it is another brick in the wall of our continued existence." This signifies the importance of trade with the US and the fact that corporations have an obligation to take a moral stand given the importance South Africa places on that trade.
In 1972, Roy Wilkins of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples) asked, "How many black jobs would be lost if General Motors went back to Detroit, if John Deere and Chase Manhattan pulled out [of South Africa]? Instead of withdrawing, American companies should make dramatic improvements in the wage structures and training of African workers."
How you "win" the simulation:
Your group must get the board to adopt a resolution which does all of the following:You should prepare a written resolution for the board to adopt and a written justification for why they should adopt it, which your group members will take turn reading at the meeting.
Here's an example for how to word a resolution... keep the parts in bold and change the rest of the wording: